Ten Federal Government Mobile Apps
The Feds have lots of mobile apps at apps.usa.gov. Information Week highlights some favorites in an article: 10 Handy Mobile Apps From Uncle Sam, including:
- The FBI's popular Ten Most Wanted list
- FBI's Child ID app (lets parents carry pictures and vital information such as weight and height about their children in case of emergency. It provides tips on how to keep children safe and what to do if they go missing, with fast access to law enforcement authorities via email and phone.)
- Science.gov (search scientific information from more than 50 databases and 2,100 government-affiliated websites.)
- Cancer.gov (provides a dictionary of terms, and news and information on cancer types, diagnoses, treatments, and how to treat side effects.)
- Smithsonian Institution's Access American Stories (companion for visitors to the American Stories exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.)
- Airport Wait Times (provides estimates of the wait times--the estimated time from landing until passengers are screened by Customs agents--for arriving flights at 23 international airports based on averages and time of year, not real-time data.)
- Department of Housing and Urban Development: The Edge (online magazine with news and information on housing and community development issues and regulations.)
- IRS Jobs (jobs at the IRS.)
- NARA DocsTeach (documents of historical significance.)
- Smokey Bear
Hearing Tuesday 6/19/12 “Economic Impact of Ending or Reducing Funding for the ACS and other Government statistics”
Finally! I hope all of our DC friends will show up for this Congressional hearing next week entitled, “The Economic Impact of Ending or Reducing Funding for the American Community Survey and other Government Statistics” being held by the Congressional Joint Economic Committee (JEC). As we've argued over and over, these types of data/statistics are critical to a well-functioning democracy. Here's a great chance for the American public to shut down the misguided and unsupported perspectives of Representative Daniel Webster and other politicians of his ilk. Support the ACS and the Census!
The U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC), will hold a hearing entitled, “The Economic Impact of Ending or Reducing Funding for the American Community Survey and other Government Statistics,” at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 19, 2012, in room 210 of the Cannon House Office Building. WHAT: Hearing on “The Economic Impact of Ending or Reducing Funding for the American Community Survey and other Government Statistics” WHO: Mr. Kenneth Simonson, Chief Economist The Associated General Contractors of America and Vice President, National Association for Business Economics Washington, DC The Honorable Vincent P. Barabba, Former Director of the Census Bureau (1973-1976; 1979-1981) and Current Chairman Market Insight Corporation Capitola, CA The Honorable Keith Hall, Senior Research Fellow Mercatus Center at George Mason University and former Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics Arlington, Virginia The Honorable Grant D. Aldonas, Principal Managing Director Split Rock International Washington, DC WHEN: 2:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 19, 2012 WHERE: 210 Cannon House Office BuildingContinue reading
Federal Statistical Programs in Jeopardy
Information Today reports on how budget cuts are affecting statistical information: "Nearly every federal agency has some statistical program that will be affected by budget cuts." Among other cuts, the article says that the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) will be closed as of June 15, 2012 and its website will no longer be maintained.
- Federal Statistical Programs in Jeopardy, by Barbie E. Keiser, Information Today (June 14, 2012).
CIA Claims it Cannot Find its Own Declassification Regulations
[Editor's note 7/21/2013: At the time of this story, Kel McClanahan actually is the director of the non-profit law firm called National Security Counselors, NOT the National Security Archive. The original story appeared on the National Security Archive's website. We have updated the story with the correct attribution. We apologize for any confusion.] Kel McClanahan of the non-profit law firm National Security Counselors submitted to the Central Intelligence Agency a Freedom of Information Act request for "the CIA's copy of its new regulation 32 C.F.R. 1908." This is a public document: a regulation in the Code of Federal Regulations. It is available, for example, here: 32 CFR 1908. The CIA even has a copy of 32 CFR on its own website (though evidently not the current version!): http://www.foia.cia.gov/32CFR.asp http://www.foia.cia.gov/txt/32CFR.pdf But the CIA responded to this request this way:
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Josh Tauberer Gets Congress Into the 21st Century
This article reports on the importance of a bill that will enable Congress to provide bulk access to its legislative data. It also profiles one of the heroes of open-access to Congressional data, Josh Tauberer. As the Post says, Josh has prodded Congress and the result may be the "raw material for an Angie's List or a Yelp for Congress, a way for modern users to evaluate lawmakers with the same kind of crowdsourced help that they use to evaluate lunch." This is a lot like how Carl Malamud got the SEC to put the EDGAR database online. (SEC'S EDGAR On Net, What Happened And Why, TAP-INFO, 30 Nov 1993). Congressional data may soon be easier to use online, by David A. Fahrenthold, Washington Post, (June 8, 2012)..
Online, searching for a bill in Congress feels a little like time travel: Go looking for legislation, and you wind up in the Internet of 1995. At Congress's '90s-vintage archive site, there's no way to compare bills side by side. No tool to measure the success rate of a bill's sponsor. And there's certainly no way to leave a comment. Congress makes it hard for outside sites to do any of this, either, by refusing to give out bulk data on its bills in a user-friendly form. On Friday, that might start to change.Continue reading